The Other 99 % Podcast

Welcome to The Other 99%, a business leadership podcast hosted by Steve Whittington. This podcast is dedicated to exploring tips, strategies and training for creating success as a small to medium enterprise.

Small business (fewer than 100 employees) is a big deal in Canada representing 98.2% of all business. Add in Medium sized businesses (100 to 499 employees) the number rises to 99.8 %. (The other 99%) These business are the future of Canada’s economic engine, and there are rarely celebrated.

Making magic happen with Sherry Kennett

Sherry has dedicated her professional life to helping other succeed. She does this through her organization Invest in You in partnership with the Disney Institute.

Her Mission: Empowering people through inspirational learning experiences

With the support of Alberta Chambers of Commerce, Sherry Kennett-Shmyr founded Invest In You Today in 2015 with a mission to make the Walt Disney’s world class excellence training available and affordable in Western Canada to help empower people through inspirational learning experiences.

Always moving forward with Kendal Netmaker

Sep 21, 2017

Kendal is one of Canada’s top entrepreneurs and motivational speakers who grew up on Sweetgrass First Nation, SK. He was raised single-parented, living on welfare and no opportunity to be involved in after school sports. In grade 5, his best friend from South Africa gave Kendal a helping hand by giving him the opportunity to take part in soccer. He never forgot about what his friend had done for him when he later founded the popular clothing brand, Neechie Gear. A lifestyle apparel brand that empowers youth through sports. A portion of profits help fund underprivileged youth to take part in sports.Continue Reading

Supporting causes with content from the Dalai Lama to the United Nations with Katrina German

Jul 24, 2017

Katrina German calls herself a Saskatchewan gypsy. To date she has had an interesting career and I expect it will continue to be very interesting. She is an individual dedicated to helping individuals and organizations tell their story. It is through stories that causes and ideas get amplified. Katrina’s slogan: “I make good ideas louder. “Continue Reading

Making Things Mobile with Chad Jones

May 10, 2017

Chad Jones CEO of Push interactions

On this episode of The other 99 % the guest is Chad Jones. Chad is the CEO of Push Interactions, formerly CollegeMobile, is an award-winning developer of customized smartphone and tablet applications for organizations, specializing in Apple iOS, AndroidTM, BlackBerry®, and Windows® Phone. Push’s feature-filled mobile apps are designed to improve customer retention or workplace productivity. Push’s vision is to improve quality of life through quality technology.

Creating trust in the connection economy with Sara Wheelwright

The founding story of Trusted is rooted in a desire to help others from personal experience. Sara, the Trusted Founder, arrived in Saskatchewan from the UK in 2006. With no one to recommend businesses or services to her, she struggled to find good providers for her many immediate needs. Although she spent hours Googling for the products and services her family required, she still encountered bad service and had no idea who to choose.

This was very stressful experience and she searched for something online to find local, verified businesses; something for people like her and the thousands of other newcomers that were arriving every month. People with no local knowledge or contacts, people from other parts of Canada and from all around the World…there the first seeds of Trusted were sown! Continue Reading

Meeting the Leadership Transition Challenge with Jane Halford

Meeting the Leadership Transition Challenge

Jane has a long career as a leader and now chooses to help create better leaders. 40% of all leadership transitions fail within the first 18 months. This is an alarming statistic and Jane dives into the challenges facing leadership transition and what organizations can do to bring this fail rate down.

Jane describes herself and a “recovering accountant” a humble description of the great work she is pursuing.

Hosted by Steve Whittington, this podcast is dedicated to exploring tips, strategies and training for creating success as a small to medium enterprise.

12 years of Saskatchewan Digital Marketing with Mouneeb Shahid

May 17, 2016

Mouneeb Shahid is the CEO of 2webdesign a Saskatchewan digital marketing and design firm that has been around for 12 years. When this podcast was being recorded Mouneeb was in Manchester, UK working on his Masters in Digital Strategy, an example of his dedication to improvement for himself and the clients he serves. Our conversation ranges from the struggles of starting out to the challenges of educating clients and leading internal teams.

Lots of thoughts, comments and insights from a Saskatchewan Digital Marketing Leader.

12 Years of Saskatchewan Digital Marketing Ups and Downs

Steve Whittington: Mouneeb talks about the challenges of starting a business at a young age, what the industry is facing today, and daily rituals that help keep him focused. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you are making a difference in your industry.

Mouneeb Shahid: Certainly Steve, my name is Mouneeb Shahib and I’m the CEO and Founder of 2webdesign.com, a digital marketing agency based in Saskatoon. We have been in business since 2004 really focused on helping our clients maximize their potential online.

We look at strategies online and see what our clients can make use of when it comes to the internet – and giving them a solid presence online, and helping them boost that presence to make the most of it.

Steve: You have been in business for 12 years, starting your business at the age of 23. What was the spark for you to start your own company?

Mouneeb: It’s interesting because I have never actually worked for anyone since I graduated, and I would say that I’m really unemployable as a person. When I started out at university I was actually doing a minor in computer science and I really go interested in this project that I was doing for the University Newspaper. I designed one of their websites at that time and that got me into website development and really knowing more about online marketing and the industry.

That got me into the industry, and I really started investigating how websites could benefit businesses from a commercial perspective. I really started doing a lot of research around that and developed my skillsets, and when I graduated I went on to launch my company at 23.

The other reason – it that I actually got married at an early age – 20, and I had my first daughter at 21 years. So I really had this overwhelming amount of responsibility and I really needed to make something out of myself. So it was a motivation I had, due to the responsibilities I had to face – to start my company.

Steve: Well good motivation is never a bad thing. I’m thinking about this, you said at 23 you started your own company, and I know from personal experience – I was an entrepreneur in my early 20’s, and I ran up against challenges because of being so young. There was a hindrance to being so young and being the representative or being the face of an organization.

Do you find, that in your industry, was being young helpful or was it a hindrance, and, do you have any strategies that helped you overcome detriments, or did you exploit the fact that you were so young and knew what you were doing?

Mouneeb: That’s actually something that’s interesting because it was a hindrance initially because when I was trying to approach business, especially seasoned business professionals who have been around and doing business a certain way for many years, it was sometimes difficult to change their mindset about what the potential that the internet has for their business.

It was also interesting to see how they would react when I came in for a meeting and they would think that there would be a much older individual working with them or providing them with information. It was definitely something I had to overcome, although I must say that once we did get into a conversation, and once I started explaining some of the benefits they could have, and once we really started getting into more detail – the age wouldn’t be much of a matter.

It was a hindrance, but once they got to know me it was all good.

Steve: So your strategy for overcoming it was just to bowl right through it, and just keep on going on your path… it that what it was? Just grit and determination?

Mouneeb: – I would say so. Definitely grit… there were a lot of rejections at first – primarily because I didn’t have much to show. It was really challenging for me to get those first initial projects. Once I did have those projects, I actually had a base to demonstrate and show our clients what we can do for them. It was definitely a challenge to get those first few clients, but once we had that portfolio, I was able to show how we either increase sales, increase response rates from their website and also convert more business.

And that data really mattered because when I’m speaking to a business person initially, they used to always ask about the projects we worked on – especially if there were any projects that we worked on that were relevant to their industry.

It was important for me to really develop a diverse portfolio of services working with different industries and be able to come across certain channels and provide those details to the prospect I was dealing with at the time.

Steve: so you have mentioned details, numbers, analytics, basically – I’m rewinding the clock and thinking of how things were over a decade ago – do you think that was a key challenge at the start – showing how a website could make a difference in ROI, and with that being said, do you think there is a continuing challenge – and my third question is – what do you think the challenge is now in your industry?

Mouneeb: The fundamental shift that has happened over the course of the past decade, is that businesses are more open to hearing about what the internet can do for their business online.

Listen to the podcast recording for further thoughts, comments and insights from a Saskatchewan Digital Marketing Leader

The importance of having the right company culture

Apr 14, 2016

On today’s episode, we have Ryan Sailer, General Manager of Southland Trailer Corp., a leading manufacture of light industrial trailers in western Canada. Ryan talks about working with family, innovation, and the importance of having the right company culture implemented.

The Fiscal Impact Of The Right Company Culture

Growing up with an entrepreneurial Dad, Ryan reflects on opportunities he experienced to look at situations differently. From a very young age, Ryan learned to look at the business from an employee perspective and from the management perspective. He shares insights on how he has come to understand the fiscal impact of culture to the company.

Learn more about Southland Trailers;

Southland Trailers, located on 1405 – 41st. Avenue North, Lethbridge, Alberta, has been a manufacturer of quality built products for over twenty years.

How a farmer from Portage la Prairie became a digital leader

Apr 5, 2016

In this episode of The Other 99%, Steve talks with Dwayne Leslie from Global Auction Guide.

The internet is ‘the great equalizer’, and this guest is a perfect example of that. Have a listen, and learn how a farmer from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, has become a digital leader for auctions in North America.

Hosted by Steve Whittington, this podcast is dedicated to exploring tips, strategies and training for creating success as a small to medium enterprise.

Dwayne Leslie, the president and creator of Globalauctionguide.com – originally for listing where to find traditional, live auction sales – making it easy for farmers to find local auction sales. It worked so well for the farm auctions, at the request of the auctioneers, the team expanded to cover real estate auctions, as well as antiques auctions and others.

Dwayne speaks about how his successful internet company started out. He shares his insights on starting out with very little budget and some of his first steps to earning revenue online.